a tickling RPG (f/* and */f)

[Kleptomaniac1]

EDIT: A fixed version has been linked below. If you play your game and notice that you turn into a door.. um.. DL the fixed version. Sorry!

Inspired by Ilohnoh's games and BigTicklingFan's "Choose your own adventure," I tried making a tickling RPG.

As a first attempt, it's fairly short (can beat it under an hour easily), and there isn't much of a well-defined plot as I only came up with one towards the end... but hopefully it's still fun. Plus there's a reward at the end.

So without further ado, I present... "The Cackling Cave"

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YZ0X22L8
The Cackling Cave.rar - 32.80MB (alt DL link)
(2 different download links incase one doesn't work)
(Requires at least 35 megabytes of space, and WinRar)

EDIT: Because some people have found the game too hard at the beginning (Weaklings! Can't grind for 10 minutes to sail through the rest of the game easily?), I've included an EASY MODE version. Enemies do less damage, enemies drop more gold, and there is a cache of gold hidden in the rose bushes if you're desperate. However, by playing in this mode, you admit to the world that you have taken the low road... (and not the fun, tickling-filled one with Little Big Head.)
The Cackling Cave - EASY mode v2.0.rar - 32.82MB


Backstory
Set in a medieval-fantasy atmosphere, you are an adventurer traveling the lands for excitement. After a long walk, you have stopped in at a small village near the coast to get a drink. However, the place is awfully empty and quiet...

Controls
Spacebar/Enter = Action/Accept/Select/Examine
Escape = Menu/Go Back

Tips
- Examine your surroundings. You may find secret treasure, funny dialogue, perhaps even something to help you at the beginning of your adventure.
- You can SAVE at any point in time by going to the Menu. Don't be afraid to save anytime you're worried about what is coming up.
- As this is an RPG, you may need to level-up and buy some better gear or items before venturing past certain points.

P.S: I'm sure I probably have a couple typos or grammar mistakes here and there (probably even a bug or glitch somewhere)... but it's so hard to examine hundreds of lines of text without any sort of spellcheck!

 

[FeatherDaemon1]

I played a little bit. It is pretty fun so far. I do have one bug to report. I did not try to recreate it, but after I re-entered the tavern my graphic changed from the cloaked figure to the door. I had full functionality I was just... the door. It was actually pretty funny.

Nice game so far though. It is entertaining.

 

[Kleptomaniac1]

I played a little bit. It is pretty fun so far. I do have one bug to report. I did not try to recreate it, but after I re-entered the tavern my graphic changed from the cloaked figure to the door.

...Oh my god. I am an idiot. A major bug like that, all because of ONE checkbox I missed.

I'll have a FIXED VERSION up in a couple minutes!

 

[SF85]

Do I need any particular file to run this at all? Currently downloading it and it's the symbol I get my computer doesn't have that particular program.

 

[Kleptomaniac1]

Do I need any particular file to run this at all? Currently downloading it and it's the symbol I get my computer doesn't have that particular program.

You do need WinRar (it's a compression tool like WinZip) to unpack the files, which can be found here: http://www.rarlab.com/download.htm

If you're on PC, just pick one of the first two links, whether you're on 32-bit or 64-bit. A few choices down is the one for Mac OS X.

To run the game, you don't need anything. All the game files are included in it. You just gotta unpack the .rar, and click on the "Game.exe."

If people are having too much trouble getting WinRar (to be honest, I thought everyone had it nowadays), I can upload an .exe auto-extractor, or try to .zip it. I didn't do an .exe because I figured some people may be hesitant about double-clicking on that, as opposed to being able to scan and preview a .rar to confirm that it's not a virus/trick.

 

[SF85]

Ah got it now thanks. Had a quick play through and it's shaping up to be a nice, humourgame. That RPGMaker you used?

 

[Kleptomaniac1]

Ah got it now thanks. Had a quick play through and it's shaping up to be a nice, humourgame. That RPGMaker you used?

Yup. RPG Maker XP.

 

[Dreyer]

So I played the game up to the battle at the crystal orb, and I have a few things to report:

First off, a couple of movement bugs. You can walk off the south wall and into the darkness in the first room, as shown here.
Also, stepping on this square does not move the user into town, as one would expect it to. You have to move up one square before you'll be taken back to town.

Second, a small visual problem: The bridge over the lake in the town looks more like a ladder leading up into the sky. Is there perhaps another set of tiles that you can use?

Third, a few problems with the design:
* You don't have any gold in the beginning of the game, which means that you can't buy any healing items until you've already beaten a couple of enemies. Even the hidden cache of coins in the tavern doesn't give you enough to prepare for the battles ahead.
* And speaking of battles, the random battles themselves don't give you enough gold to get new equipment or healing items reliably — unless you fight a whole lot of them, or, in other words, grind. And grinding is not fun.
* Also, after battles, the victory music takes a little long to fade out — so long that you'll often be in another battle before it ends. Perhaps you can cut down the fade-out time to about one second?
* I think the skills cost too much SP to use. Especially Duct Tape: Why does it cost three times more than Rapid Poke if it deals no damage and its chances of working are so low?
* Where the heck do the bosses go after the fight? Are they dead? Or are they just unconscious from being tickled so much? I think it would be good if you added some after-battle text describing the aftermath of the fight, and perhaps added some visual changes as well (like the boss's map sprite lying on the ground where once she was standing). It would help clarify what's going on, and it would make the player feel more rewarded for beating the boss.

All in all, though, I applaud the effort that you've put into this. It's a nice, light RPG experience, and with a little bit of clean-up it can be even more fun.

 

[Kleptomaniac1]

First off, a couple of movement bugs. You can walk off the south wall and into the darkness in the first room, as shown here.
Also, stepping on this square does not move the user into town, as one would expect it to. You have to move up one square before you'll be taken back to town.

Yeah, I'm still trying to figure out how some of the "rules for movement" work in it. In some maps it was letting me walk off screen, so I had to paint black tiles that didn't allow movement to block the player in. I'm guessing that either I missed a spot there, or forgot to do it for that one room.

Second, a small visual problem: The bridge over the lake in the town looks more like a ladder leading up into the sky. Is there perhaps another set of tiles that you can use?

It's a ladder. :x It was the only "bridge" graphic I had access to in that tileset. It's possible to mix tileset graphics, but it involves editing the files, and frankly I did not want to risk touching those incase it messed up maps I had already finished.

* You don't have any gold in the beginning of the game, which means that you can't buy any healing items until you've already beaten a couple of enemies. Even the hidden cache of coins in the tavern doesn't give you enough to prepare for the battles ahead.

This was perhaps the hardest part for me to get down. Once you get a Hairbrush or greater, you can beat the phase 1 monsters in 1-2 hits. If I increase the gold, then you can buy the best items rather quickly (and they have a major effect), so I kept it a bit low... requiring players to grind a bit outside of town (where they can safely go back into town if they need a heal) for maybe 10-15 minutes. That's enough for almost 100 gold, I'd say. Then with a good weapon and some armor, it's a breeze.

So I felt it was perhaps a bit better to make it "a grind early on and a breeze later" rather than "a breeze the whole way," but it's certainly something I would have to fine-tune now that I understand the game algorithms better.

There is a nice chest of gold in the cave... if you can build up your strength to make it there.

* Also, after battles, the victory music takes a little long to fade out — so long that you'll often be in another battle before it ends. Perhaps you can cut down the fade-out time to about one second?

I thought I had shortened it enough (5 seconds total), but I guess not. Problem is that the music doesn't stop when you exit the screen... it stops when the music is done. I suppose I could make an event that forces the music to stop once you're back on the map, but it would require some testing.

* I think the skills cost too much SP to use. Especially Duct Tape: Why does it cost three times more than Rapid Poke if it deals no damage and its chances of working are so low?

Once more, something that I really need to fine-tune more. Personally, I never had any problem connecting with Duct Tape. Bad luck perhaps? It was a last minute change to lower the total SP amount that you got because when you get a Toothbrush... even at lvl 3 or 4, your Rapid Poke is doing about 100 damage. That one-shots most monsters, and takes a huge chunk off bosses.

Duct Tape stuns the monster for 3 turns, and will never break early, so that's 3 free turns to do whatever you want. Attack more? Use an item? Try to run? Etc. I guess I overestimated its usefulness however.

* Where the heck do the bosses go after the fight? Are they dead? Or are they just unconscious from being tickled so much? I think it would be good if you added some after-battle text describing the aftermath of the fight, and perhaps added some visual changes as well (like the boss's map sprite lying on the ground where once she was standing). It would help clarify what's going on, and it would make the player feel more rewarded for beating the boss.

Picky picky. 😛 To be honest, I'm severely limited in this field. The sprites in the game are very unique, but almost all humanoid (and many wearing armor). Since they wouldn't match the bosses, I thought it'd be better to not include a sprite rather than having something that didn't even match the picture.

Basically, I would have to spend some time in photoshop and create sprites from scratch to do that. I'm lazy!

But seriously, thank you for your feedback. Where were you when I needed a beta-tester?

 

[Xtreme09]

I agree with everything Dragonbrat said. This game is ridiculously hard.

First of all. Make the potions/items at a lower price than weapons. That way we have a chance at recovering with items even after battles. Grinding is good but make sure the items are not the same price as weapons otherwise the game gets really dull, really fast.

Second. Give the enemies at the beginning at little less atk or hp. That vine girl really gets on my nerves when she binds me. Boss battles like Kitsune and Catgirl could stay the same because they're boss battles.

Edit the game with these things and you've got a perfectly balanced game.

 

[Kleptomaniac1]

I've added an "easy mode" for those who just wanted to rush through the game instead of leveling up to vanquish the evil.

 

[Violetta]

What... hard!? I beat the entire thing in about 30 minutes or so, and I had a serious blast doing it. Sure it took a little grinding to get the right equipment, but it was easier grinding than I'm used to thanks to WoW. Klep, you made a really fun little game here. Grazie, ragazzo. It is appreciated.

 

[Xtreme09]

I was able to beat the game finally before that easy mode came up. Turns out checking around the town helps greatly. A lot of grinding work but in the end it's all worth it. Those who have beat the game will know what I mean. Awesome game here. Hope it's possible you can make a sequel or better yet another rpg with Ilohnoh helping out too.

If you were to make a sequel someday I was hoping for more ocean girls IMO.

Oh and that Easy mode would be good for Speed runs actually.


EDIT: Question. Where did you find the artwork for the images shown in battles etc? They look really good.

 

[Excess]

I agree with Bella, it was hardly what I'd call hard. True some grinding is required but once you've got enough for a decent 'weapon' (I just got the toothbrush cuz I was lazy) but then you can one-shot everything up to the cave where you can easily gain enough money to get the best armor. Was an amusing diversion...

Btw, Xtreme, just google monster girl encyclopedia for the art.

P.S. Skies of Arcadia FTW!

 

[Kleptomaniac1]

An artist named Kenkou Kurosu draws the monster girls that ended up in the Monster Girl Encyclopedia that someone assembled. I made sure to name him in the credits. He posts them publically, and doesn't seem to mind when other people have translated or edited his works, so long as they made no claim to ownership of them. I certainly don't own them. He's a great artist and deserves recognition.

And yes, Skies of Arcadia rules.

 

[Xtreme09]

Ah yeah I found the encyclopedia images. They look good but you used only a handful of them for this game. And yeah this guy is an amazing artist.

Btw only 3 ocean based girls I found so ignore my last comment on that XD

EDIT: I decided to try out the Easy mode too. I saw you started us off at the entrance to the cave. When I went back up to the forest the character gives a ? and walks to the right and the game locks up.

 

[Jaynin]

Quite a lot of fun. I guess being a veteran gamer means that grinding doesn't bother me.

I did notice, however, that in the beginning you can "unequip" being unequipped and have no weapon whatsoever. 😀

 

[the other guy]

Can somebody show some screenshots please?

 

[jax1]

So great game *-* I have finish it too in one or two hours but it was so good that make me want to start again 😀 Like Xtreme have asked ,i hope for a sequel ^^

PS : Congratulation ,you are my hero for doing a sooooo nice game with RPG maker *-*

 

[Kleptomaniac1]

EDIT: I decided to try out the Easy mode too. I saw you started us off at the entrance to the cave. When I went back up to the forest the character gives a ? and walks to the right and the game locks up.

Yeah, huge mistake on my part. I just re-uploaded a fixed Easy version.

Basically, since I accidentally started you off in front of the cave (I was testing some last-minute things), when you go back to the forest it attempts to initiate the conversation with the Kitsune. However, there's a tree blocking your path to the right, so you can never finish the movement event to start it.

I did notice, however, that in the beginning you can "unequip" being unequipped and have no weapon whatsoever. 😀

:O You divided by zero! Yeah, "unequipped" is actually a weapon. It's so I could have you start off unarmed, but still be doing enough damage to enemies to do something. I suppose I could have fiddled with the strength values and hitpoints more... but I'm a little tired of tweaking values at the moment.

 

[Ilohnoh1]

Pretty fun game. Good job, Klepto!

And thanks also for mentioning me in the initial post. Of all my games, this one was perhaps closest to the Eleptoclypse (where you also have to go into a cave and tickle fight many opponents).

It's nice to see that someone else has picked up the bat and started swinging with it. 🙂

I finished the game in a little under an hour (also having taken a 10 min break in the middle) and I think that it was not too hard, as long as you just have a little patience. This is not a game you can just rush through and think you can win. By the way, I also think that there are enough little things lying around in the town to get you started a little... I won't say what/where, but people should just look around well and try everything out before heading off into the forest... after that it was a matter of patience and I must say I love the girl who is standing in front of the two buildings, she's really helpful. 😉

Kudos,
Ilo.

 

[somebody231]

Is it "text-based" or graphical? Does it have animation or pictures? Do you have to install it? Screenshots of any kind, people?

Thanks 🙂 Hope it doesn't have to be installed (to the registry and all...), since I don't want to leave traces. I'm not the only one using this computer.

 

[FF7tickler]

....

Quite the fun little RPG. It was a nice surprise. Thanks for sharing.

 

[8675309]

Probably the best thing I've ever found on this forum. It was great fun, kinda a nostalgia mixed with that great playfulness of tickling. I like that it went both ways, both 'lee and 'ler. I also like all the different dialogue for boss encounters. Not to mention that losing was sometimes more fun than winning lol.

Overall great, I can't really tell you enough how badass this was. Terrific work, I hope another episode pops up some time.

 

[Kleptomaniac1]

Is it "text-based" or graphical? Does it have animation or pictures? Do you have to install it? Screenshots of any kind, people?
Thanks 🙂 Hope it doesn't have to be installed (to the registry and all...), since I don't want to leave traces. I'm not the only one using this computer.

I'll add a few preview screenshots to the first post. It's 2D graphics and text (think Dragon Quest/Dragon Warrior). To the best of my knowledge, there is no trace of the game, as it doesn't actually "install" the game. All the game files are in the folder that I've uploaded... you just unzip and play.

If it does leave a registry file, it'll be filed as "RPG Maker XP" as it's a generic, innocent, rated-G game-making program.